Pre-Operative Assessment Presentation

Tuesday marked the second day of surgery administered by the HHNW crew. It also acted as the first of several PowerPoint presentations given by one of the HHNW members. Sara Morasch R.N. led this morning's discussion titled, "Pre-Operative Assessment and Evaluation."

The room was full of Rwandan nurses and medical personnel—28 to be exact. They listened intently to Sara's clear, informative speech regarding rheumatic heart disease and all of its subsequent effects—most notably, the physiology of pulmonary edema. Although nearly every Rwandan medical staff member can speak English, they were a bit reticent in responding to her questions. Nevertheless, it's obvious the class and its loads of information are helpful.

"I've learned a lot," remarked George, a nurse in Kenya for eight years prior to coming back to Rwanda two years ago to continue nursing. "They [HHNW] have a lot of knowledge."

The seminars will continue throughout HHNW's project here in Kigali.

Also of note today, the first patient—a 26-year-old female named Clair—moved from the ICU to the telemetry room for her post-op recovery. And like everything here or anywhere foreign, really, we quickly learned that we couldn't roll her bed from the ICU to the telemetry room because the bed was too wide to pass through medal gates. But it allowed for another remarkable moment, as a confident Claire walked comfortably to her new bed in the telemetry room. Yeah, Claire...Cool times, indeed, here in Rwanda.